Lining up in the east end zone, each member of the Royal football program took the field carrying Old Glory with them into a nonregion bout that saw the 4A Tigers, entering the contest 7-1 overall on the season, generate a 28-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. Hurricane quarterback Kannon Cowan and running back Titan Borchardt ran all over the Royals at home to snap a three-game winning streak for Chris Solomona’s crew.

Before kickoff, Roy honored Lt. Col. Jesse Branson (U.S. Navy, retired), the newly hired Royals head baseball coach, and Justin Wardell (U.S. Air Force Reserves, retired), a secondary teacher at the school, as part of Military Appreciation Night on Wednesday. Flags were provided to each football player by Roy City, Royals athletic director Monty Vorwaller, the previous head baseball coach, told the Standard-Examiner during the game.

“We love our veterans and we love our military,” Vorwaller, the son of U.S. Navy veteran Robert Vorwaller, said.

“Whenever we’re able to honor our military and the troops, it’s always a big deal,” Solomona added. “I take pride in that, and I know our team and community does. That’s always a big thing, and I just wish we came out with just a little bit more.”

Roy (4-5, 3-2 Region 5) kicked off the first of many midweek matchups taking place this week, as coaches buy themselves extra practice time through the final two weeks of the regular season. Hurricane (8-1) arrived as advertised, Solomona said, rebounding from a stop – Bryton Ketcham logged a fourth-down pass breakup, handing the Royals some early momentum – for a quick Borchardt scoring drive and a 7-0 lead with 7:47 left in the first quarter.

Borchardt found the end zone four times on Wednesday – twice on the ground and twice through the air – as Roy neglected to answer Hurricane through the end of the third quarter, well after the 35-point running clock rule went into effect.

Cowan, throwing his first of two touchdown passes for a commanding 28-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, was ultimately unstoppable in the face of the Roy defense, which finished the night recording a single stop (Ketcham’s first-quarter PBU).

Conversely, Roy’s offense failed to piece together an answer. Senior Royals quarterback Gunner Pearson, the halftime recipient of an America First Credit Union Scholarship at halftime, threw two interceptions on Wednesday, including on a drive where the Royals finally breached Hurricane’s 30-yard line late in the second quarter.

Eating 10 more points en route to a mercy-rule decision, it’s “back to the drawing board” for a Roy, Solomona said. Roy entered the contest riding high after stringing together three consecutive region wins against Bonneville (35-0), Clearfield (27-20 in OT), and Northridge (20-16) after a disappointing 1-4 start to the season.

“There’s just a lot of emotions that I feel right now,” Solomona said. “We knew they were physical coming into the game, but we just didn’t respond. You could blame it on the lack of practice time, but they had the same amount of time, too. They came out and did what we knew they were capable of doing, which is being physical, running the ball the way they did, and just solid up front on both sides of the ball… We’ve just got to figure out how we can be better.”

Roy hosts Fremont (5-3, 3-1) in its regular-season finale next Wednesday, Oct. 14.

Connect with Standard-Examiner sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net, X @ctbecker and Instagram @standardexaminersports.